These sightseekers were taken for more than just a ride.
A pair of horse carriage passengers were forced to jump out of a speeding buggy in Central Park after its horse got spooked and ran wild through the streets Monday morning, according to a disturbing video posted to social media.
One rider fell out, per a video of the incident posted to TikTok, while another leapt out of the moving buggy as the horse ran “haywire” through the park.
The carriage driver was flung across the road when he tried to stop the scared horse, according to animal advocacy group NYCLASS, and the rampage ended about five blocks later when the animal crashed into a parked carriage near Bethesda Fountain.
Multiple ambulances arrived on scene, but the extent of injuries to the people and horses involved were not made available as of Monday afternoon.
The spooked animal trotted from about 68th Street to Bethesda Fountain at about 11:10 a.m., and crashed into metal signs and garbage cans while dozens of passers-by had to jump out of the way, according to witness Danielle Chin who called the incident “terrifying.
“It’s unpredictable – he could have trampled in any direction,” Manhattan resident Chin, 31, said of the “scary” incident. “Luckily, the horse knew the path of the loop – but there are all these people around, all these tourists, that … don’t have instincts to back up when something happens like that.”
The news comes just weeks after the Central Park Conservancy, which oversees the park, came out against the longstanding practice of allowing horse carriages inside the park.
“Today’s incident only underscores our concern about the dangers posed by horses in the increasingly crowded Park,” a conservancy spokesperson told The Post.
The chaos marks the fourth loose carriage horse incident this summer alone, according to NYCLASS executive director Edita Birnkrant.
“Today’s violent runaway horse crash in Central Park makes it crystal clear: no one is able to protect the horses or the public from abuse, danger, injury or death as long as horse-drawn carriages continue to operate,” Birnkrant said, noting there is “no more time” for delays to a public hearing on a proposed citywide ban on carriage horses.
“Every day of delay is gambling with lives,” Birnkrant added.
A request for comment from the union representative of the horse carriages did not immediately return a request for comment.
Chin noted it was pure “chance” that nobody was crossing at the typically-busy intersection where the horse was spooked and ran off – straight into a now-mangled stop sign.
“What if that stop sign was a human?” Chin said.
“How are we gonna let this keep going until someone actually, until a human gets hurt?”
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